Revival 2007

Revival for me this year was in one word: REFRESHING! Its interesting because everytime, its usually AT revival that i get broken and challenged.. and then i can enjoy the rest of revival and get blessed.. this year, being broken and challenged started BEFORE revival at grad Bible study. I'd been struggling a lot with certain things that i'd failed in in the past year and really having a hard time because my mind kept on going back and dwelling on it. During our Bible study, we studied 1 Corinthians 3 where Paul addresses the Corinthians as infants and worldly. I was reminded of something someone shared before: "babies are cute... but imagine a 21 yr old acting like a baby!" It really hit me... there's so much that needs to change and be refined in my life... lack of maturity is what causes soo much problems in the body... and i can choose to let the failures drag me down.. or i can choose to grow through them. I remember thinking "There's no way i'm gonna let this chance to grow go to waste! There's no way i'm gonna be a baby at 26! I WANNA GROW!!"

It's so interesting because all the messages this year were geared toward failure and how God sees it and uses it. The first night, Pastor Seth talked about how God's power is made perfect in our weakness.. and its IN our failures and weaknesses that HE shines the most. Pastor Paul talked about how God loves us.. even when we're messy and that if we really understood the gospel, we'd understand that yes we'll fail, yes we'll mess up, yes we'll feel guilty about it... but IN CHRIST, as we come to Him, there's no shame. He gave an example of his son learning potty training and him reminding him: daddy loves you.. even when you're messy. If God sees the worst of us, and still loves us, shouldn't there be such a sense of security and peace? If daddy loves us, why do we care so much what the mailman thinks? If God loves us unconditionally, why do we care so much about what others think! Looking back, i'm so thankful for the failures and struggles. God knows exactly what i need to grow.. to mature.. to be the man He wants me to be... and instead of seeing them as minuses.. i SOO just wanna grow! Lord help me to grow!!

I think what made revival 10x better, was meeting up with people and gleaning insights from them and sharing what God's been doing in our lives with them.. one of the things i miss most being here at RPI is having older people around to rebuke and challenge me. I feel like i have so much to learn... even just spending time with some people my year... i feel like they've grown so much in insight, perspective, and heart... and i was so challenged even by the things they were sharing about their failures, small group, etc. I'm just so hungry to grow... whatever failures come, whatever struggles come, i wanna grow!!

Some memories/highlights from the trip:

- Walking into Follinger auditorium a bit sad not really knowing a single person... and then starting worship with "Everlasting God"... things will change, people will change, situations will change, lifestyle will change... but GOD is the EVERLASTING, UNCHANGING God. Thank YOU Jesus!
- BTF with Danny till the wee hours of the night every night. I realize i have really weird preferences =P
- Seeing Ms. Kim at Servant's meeting and watching her eyes light up and say "WELCOME HOME!"
- Helping to usher a new generation of fatboys... introducing pokey sticks to some youngins =]
- Sharing heart for grad ministry with JT
- Meeting up with TTHA, Danny, P Joe, MiRyung, Steve... finally getting Alexanders after 6 yrs :)... and just getting blown away by the things they shared... these guys are so veteran its not even funny... even one liners challenge me so much.
- CCCNJ/CLG/Livingstone lunch reunion - God's been faithful and continues to be faithful. More workers!!
- Meeting up with fellow nerds and dorks for lunch =P
- *coercing* Jin to take an ECE picture with us =P
- Briefly catching up with tons and tons of people at Golden Wok
- Taking a nice nap at Grainger like the good ol days =P
- Walking around campus and just getting a thick sense of God's presence..
- Seeing a new generation of workers being raised up to be soldiers for Christ!

Ok now for some pictures =]

Ah... Grainger engineering library... oh the countless hours slaving away... sleeping on the plushy couches... the nights doing problem sets in the study rooms. How i miss thee oh Grainger =P. I had a chance to take a nap there one of the afternoons... just like the good ol times :)

Debra Woods.. my boss at Math Teacher Link (MTL) where i worked my undergrad days... its funny because every year i stop by and every year she's not in... but i finally caught her! I'm always so thankful because of the fun and challenging work i had while at MTL =P

Perhaps only those who've gone through ECE at UIUC can truely appreciate this picture. Welcome to my second home...

I was adopted by Danny's SG this time out again.. we were quite shocked that most of them had not been exposed to the wonders of POKEY STICKS.. this was probably one of the single most contributing factors to my freshman 20 in college =P

Everytime i think of these guys, my heart gets all mushy and thankful. I remember my first year here being the only one... now look at how God's been faithful. Be trained! Be equipped! and GO!

Quite an unexpected lunch... but i don't think many people understand what a POWERHOUSE picture this is... in this table you have people who've been involved in sermon taping/copying, web development (design/backend), server maintenace (email etc.) of almost every major conference (jgen, oil, etc.), missions groups and missionaries, and churches associated with CFC and CFC alum. It's so funny that halfway through our lunch, we just broke out in NERD-talk... talking about better ways to implement things etc etc. go figure =P

I think i'm going to start an album with these pictures... haha.. MAD PROPS to anyone that finishes ECE at UIUC. I think this was probably one of the most humbling few years of my life... coming into U of I having taken 11 AP exams and thinking "man i'm hot stuff".. and then finding out that most of the ECE people came in with junior standing... taking calculus their freshman year of HS... slaving away at problem sets for ONE class for 20 hrs a week.. and then sitting there the night before it was due at 4am and realizing that i only had part of question 1 done... and sitting there and crying... oh the horror stories. But once a UIUC ECE.. always a UIUC ECE!! =P

thank you. 8 yrs of God's faithfulness and provision. keep faithful bro.

During one of the nights we were hanging out with Danny's small group, he got all serious and put us on the spot "so... as alumni, what are some things you can share with the youngins about life after college?".. i totally froze.. not sure what to share. Later that night i was thinking about it:

While i was at U of I with CFC, alumni used to come back and tell us "make the most of your time here.. don't let it go to waste!" I used to think that "making the msot of your time" meant goign to all the meetings, "getting trained" in thigns like small group ministry, etc... but more and more i'm realizing that although those things are elements of it... the one thing i miss the most about CFC is seeing an abundance of hearts sold out for Christ.. willing to do whatever for Christ. I realize that "making the most of your time" doesn't mean attend more meetings... or learn the process of leading small group... etc. i think a lot of that stuff can be learned elsehwere... but that it meant "look at the hearts of people"... see their passion for Christ and hope in Him.. and though they fail, still strive to grow through everything. It is my prayer for all those still around.. that they would "make the most" of their time at CFC. It's such a special place and i'm so thankful for the work God's doing there and doing through there.